Two weeks ago, Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
in Essex was named as one of five NHS trusts in England with “persistently
high” death rates.

That followed a demand from the Care Quality Commission for “immediate improvements” in its paediatric department at Basildon Hospital, after a number of “serious incidents” there. These included the death of a 10-year-old girl in October and the case of a six-week-old baby girl who was given an accidental overdose of drugs. The baby survived.

The 10-year-old, who had epilepsy, did not get drugs she needed, her father claimed. She was moved to another hospital but died.

The incidents prompted unannounced inspections by the commission in November which found that out-of-date drugs were at hand in the unit; there was an “inadequate skill mix of nursing and medical professionals on the children’s ward”; and the trust was “failing to plan and deliver care to meet the needs of children in a way that ensured their welfare and safety”.

The inspections led to the commission’s demand for improvements and a warning about failure to meet “essential standards”, the trust’s second warning in 2012.

Question marks over the trust have been raised for years. In 2007, Richard Wood, 73, was admitted for an operation to remove an obstruction in his lower abdomen, after hormone treatment for prostate cancer. Within three months he was dead. His daughter, Donna Cole, said he “suffered terribly there”, with repeat infections and a catheter mistakenly clamped, causing extreme pain.

She recalled dirty wards, staff indifference and neglect of patients which she had witnessed. The hospital trust disputed many of her claims but apologised for dirty wards, saying “the standards of cleanliness were unacceptable”.

Previously, the trust admitted failing to protect the public from Legionnaires’ disease following the deaths of two patients after they contracted the disease in 2007 and 2010. In November 2009, Basildon was revealed to have had high death rates, meaning perhaps hundreds more patients died than should have done. That was despite it having been rated as “good” just a month earlier by the newly-formed commission. The debacle led to the resignation of its chairman, Baroness Young.

A trust spokesman said staff were committed to improving mortality rates.

Clare Panniker, chief executive of the trust, said: “We will fully support the review by Sir Bruce Keogh and believe it can only further support our work in this area. A great deal of work has already taken place, and more is under way to achieve consistently high standards of care, including the introduction of a trust-wide quality and safety turnaround programme.

“This is looking at all areas of patient quality and safety, to ensure everyone who comes here receives high-quality care and does not come to any harm.

“Clearly some of these changes, alongside improvements we are making to how we communicate and listen to staff, will take time. However, we are working hard and are committed to making Basildon Hospital worthy of the local community it serves.”